The Eagles of Heart Mountain: A True Story of Football, Incarceration, and Resistance in World War II America (U)

In the summer of 1942, the federal government forced 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes and sent them to concentration camps across the West. Eleven thousand of them landed on the desolate outskirts of the Wild West town of Cody, Wyoming, at Heart Mountain Relocation Center. It would be their home for the next three years. The same racism and discrimination that led to their removal continued in camp, as armed guards and FBI spies watched their every move. In that environment, little brought joy to the imprisoned. That is, until the fall of 1943, when the Heart Mountain High School football team, the Eagles, started its first season. Despite every obstacle, the Eagles ran through the competition-who traveled to the camp from majority-white high schools across Wyoming and Montana-and finished undefeated. As the team's second and final season kicked off, the federal government began drafting boys and men from the camps for the front lines. The Eagles had to choose: join the Army or resist the draft. With the war, draft, and family obligations crashing around them, they fought to keep their perfect record and their pride. Based on archival research and interviews with players, their families, former incarcerees, and camp employees, The Eagles of Heart Mountain is a book about a football team, yes. But it's more than that: it's about a group of people wronged by their government standing up and saying "Enough." Book jacket.